118 SCIENCE AND RELIGION. 



mestic animals — the horse. But I may say that in speaking of the origin 

 of the horse I shall use that term in a general sense as equivalent to the 

 technical term Equus, and meaning not what you ordinarily understand as 

 such, but also asses and their modifications, zebras, etc. 



"Without attempting to take you very far into the region of osteological 

 detail, I must nevertheless — for this question depends upon the comparison 

 of such details — trouble you with some points respecting the anatomical 

 structure of the horse, and more especially with those which refer to the 

 structure of its fore and hind limbs. But I shall only touch upon those 

 points which are absolutely essential to the inquiry that we have at present 

 put. Here is the fore-leg of a horse. The bone which is cut across at this 

 point is that which answers to the upper-arm bone in my arm, what you 

 would call the humerus. This bone corresponds with my fore-arm. What 

 we commonly term the knee of the horse is the wrist; it answers to the 

 wrist in man. This part of the horse's leg answers to one of the human 

 fingers, and the hoof which covers this extended joint answers to one of my 

 nails. 



"You observe that, to all appearance, there is only one bone in the fore- 

 arm. Nevertheless, at the upper end I can trace two separate portions ] 

 this part of the limb, and the one 1. am now touching. But as I go farther 

 down it runs at the back part into the general bone, and I cease to be able 

 to trace it beyond a certain point. This large bone is what is termed the 

 radius, and answers to the bone I am touching in my arm, and this other 

 portion of bone corresponds to what is called the ulna. To all appearance 

 in the forearm of the horse the ulna is rudimentary, and seems to be fused 

 into one bone with the radius. 



"It looks thus as if the ulna, running off below, came to an end, and it 

 very often happens in works on the anatomy of the horse that you find 

 these facts are referred to, and a horse is said to have an im'perfect ulna. 

 But a careful examination shows you that the lower extremity of the ulna 

 is not wanting in the horse. If you examine a very young horse's limb you 

 will find that this portion of the bone I am now showing you is separable 

 from the rest, and only unites as the animal becomes older, and this is, in 

 point of fact, the lower extremity of the ulna; so that we may say that in 

 the horse the middle part of the ulna becomes rudimentary and unites with 

 the radius, and that the lower extremity of the ulna is so early united with 

 the lower extremity of the radius that every distinct trace of separation 

 hasv anished in the adult. 



"I need not trouble you with the structure of this portion that answers 

 to the wrist, nor with a more full dsscription of the singular peculiarities 

 of the part, because we can do without them for the present, but I will go 

 on to a consideration of the remarkable series of bones which terminates 

 the fore-limb. We have one continuous series in the middle line which ter- 

 minates in the coflan-bone of the horse upon which the weight of the fore- 

 part of the body is supported. This series answers to a finger of my hand, 



